A/N: I can hear what you're saying already.
BUT Q, you yell in terror. YOU'RE MESSING WITH THE FORMAT NOOOOOOooooooooo...
Yes darlings, I am. But Come ON! It's worth it, admit it. I'll have the rest of (What was supposed to be) this chapter done soon but we can rejoice because look, I did a thing
THE VOTE IS STILL OPEN. I'm going to be leaving the official tally a surprise from now on but I'm counting and damn, it's getting close again so vote vote vote! Or don't, I mean, I could do something completely off the rails and give neither of them collars...
Whatever, enjoy!
Izaya was slightly a whole lot of things at that moment.
Slightly nervous, slightly excited, slightly happy that this was about to all be over, slightly sad that it had to end at all when he'd just struck up a new, tentative sort of camaraderie with the beast that eclipsed everything else. Hell, he was even slightly glad that Shizuo was there with him instead of making him face this alone. But he could hear shuffling footsteps from the other side of the door so he forced his mind into blankness and just focused on the present.
In that momentary emptiness, he could feel the slight pressure of Shizuo's feelings encroaching on his mind. His usual stoic attitude, mixed with something like protectiveness, like he was ready to go on the offensive if anything went south.
Just for me, ne?
Obviously.
Coughing abruptly to hide the squeak that almost escaped him at Shizuo's mater o' fact thoughts, Izaya quickly put on his best self-confident expression as the door swung inward to reveal a stooped Chinese man with white hair that stuck up at odd angles and a scowl on his face.
"Who are you, what do you want?" The man groused, narrowing his eyes even further than they already were. Taken aback by how forceful he seemed, Izaya took a step back, only to find Shizuo's hand resting between his shoulderblades.
This is what you wanted, you are not backing down now.
Yes alright I get it… "Ah, hello, Witch Doctor-san," Izaya said, though his tone faltered slightly. "I am Izaya O-"
"Yes we know who you are!" crowed a voice from inside the house. "But who is that other man with you?"
"Shut up woman!" the Chinese man barked in his gravelly voice. "Ignore her," he told Shizuo and Izaya with a wave of his hand. "She's completely batty."
"I heard that!" the woman yelled back. "Don't listen to Murra, he's entirely useless. I'm blind and even I can see that." Izaya simply felt confused, the emotion echoed by Shizuo who furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes at the short man before them.
Grumbling under his breath, something that sounded suspiciously like old crone, Murra looked them both over. "Izaya Orihara, eh?" he muttered, sniffing loudly before tilting his head sharply to the right as if looking at Izaya sideways would change something. "That woman said you might be dropping by… What was her name? Angry, scary, perpetually frustrated?"
"Namie-san?" Izaya asked curiously, unsure whether to be put off or amused by the man's odd behavior. This is the person who's going to cure me?
Don't judge a book by its cover Flea, Shizuo chided him mentally. It was at that moment that Izaya realized his hand still hadn't shifted from its spot on his back. The contact was instinctive, and Izaya couldn't help but feel almost protected because of it.
"Ah yes, that was her name." The man crossed his arms and huffed. "What was it? Soulmates, right?" He acted as if it was just business as usual. Though if he's a witch doctor, it probably is. "Yeah, that was it. Said there were some problems." He scratched his chin as he got lost in his thoughts once again.
"Indeed there are," Izaya agreed, trying to inject some purpose into his tone. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk about these matters with you in more detail. Privately if you could."
"Not so fast," Murra said, glaring at Shizuo suspiciously. "Who is this? You had better not just be dragging any old person off the street and into this."
Shizuo was about to answer when from inside the woman yelled, "That's Shizuo Heiwajima you damn fool! Pay more attention!" There was a crash and Murra hastily darted to the side to avoid the heavy looking stone that had been thrown at him.
"Shut up Isabella no one cares what you have to say!" Murra shouted back. Looking up at Shizuo, then at Izaya, he asked, "So what, enemy? Rival?" He sniffed again loudly. "No wait, friend. Temporary ally?" Then his eyes widened and he clapped his hands together. "AH! Soulmate!" Looking at Izaya, he raised an eyebrow. "So you two are soulmates, huh."
Before Izaya could respond, Shizuo stepped forward. "Yes, we are. So whatever you're going to talk to Izaya about, you can talk to me about it as well." Izaya could tell from one gentle prod of Shizuo's mind that he didn't particularly like Murra that much. Unable to really make himself care about how protective Shizuo was being, Izaya simply nodded. After everything that had happened to him today, he could stand a little bit of overbearing.
Murra's eyebrow hiked up even further. "And you're trying to tell me that you're having problems? Seriously?"
Another object crashed into the wall behind his head, this time a flowerpot. "Don't underestimate the perpetual angst of young love!" Isabelle squawked from inside the apartment. "You always do that Murra!"
Completely ignoring the stricken look on Izaya's face, Murra snapped back, "Oh go to hell Isabella, they're not young, you just think they are because you're so damn old!"
"N-no," Izaya stammered, feeling his own shock reflected in Shizuo's thoughts. "You see, actually, we're not in-"
"Shut up I wasn't talking to you!" Murra snapped irritably.
"They're guests Murra, mind your manners!" yelled Isabella reproachfully.
"Whatever," he groused, rolling his eyes. "Come on or something. You!" He pointed at Shizuo. "You can come too, why not? You might be useful anyway. Besides," he glanced at Izaya. "This one wants you around."
Shizuo looked down at Izaya, who's cheeks dusted pink as he glared at Murra. "That's not- I don't-" It hadn't even been a conscious thought but now that he mentioned it, Izaya realized just how much he'd grown attached to the idea of Shizuo sticking around. Despite this, he didn't like how easily Murra had pulled that desire from the depths of his mind.
"Oh yes you do," Murra said, voice mocking. "Now stop standing around outside like that, you're letting in a draft." Unwilling to argue with the man, Izaya followed him into the apartment. As Shizuo's hand slipped from its position on his back, Izaya felt an odd sort of regret well up within him but then Shizuo stepped into the apartment after him and it was like his presence filled the space, soothing Izaya's emotions naturally.
Don't worry Flea, I'm right behind you, Shizuo thought, managing the mental equivalent of a bemused chuckle.
Suddenly self-conscious, Izaya thought, Oh shut up Shizu-chan.
As Murra closed and bolted the door behind them, Izaya took a moment to really appreciate the area around him. The apartment itself was crowded, filled to the brim with things that Izaya usually would have dismissed as stupid artifacts for the superstitious but here looked more real somehow. For instance, the skull in the corner didn't seem as fake as Izaya would have liked, nor did the eyeballs floating in a jar on the mantlepiece.
To one side, off from the living room, the woman, Isabelle, was bent over what looked to be a smoking caldron. She had a definite European influence to her features and when she turned to look at Izaya, the Raven noted that she was indeed blind. Rolling her cloudy blue eyes as if she could see them, Isabella scoffed. "Well don't just stare at me, sit down!"
Turning, Izaya spied the small love seat that had been placed underneath the window and wrinkled his nose distastefully. Over it were at least twenty different dream-catchers and other assorted curios that he really didn't care to name. I don't think I want to sit there… Unlike Izaya however, Shizuo had no such qualms.
Come on Izaya, Shizuo thought, giving Izaya a sideways glance that was more amused than anything. The man was still guarded, but when it came to Izaya, Shizuo just seemed… relaxed. It's not going to kill you.
It might. But Izaya walked over to the couch anyways and took a tentative seat. Much less apprehensive in his movements, Shizuo sighed before sitting next to him. The close proximity to the blond did nothing to alleviate the confusion that was swirling in Izaya's mind. Because goddamnit Izaya was tired of everything being so mixed up. Part of him wanted to run, the rest just wanted to stay next to Shizuo because next to Shizuo was comfortable. Especially in a place like this that had him on edge.
Exasperation resonated at the fringes of his mind. Calm down Izaya, you're not making any sense.
Stop reading my mind! Izaya barked mentally, annoyed that he couldn't even work through his issues in the privacy of his own head.
Well I can't exactly do anything about it now can I?
"Both of you, stop being so conflicted!" Isabella barked from the corner. "It's making my head all fuzzy." Stunned by her words, Izaya's mind snapped back into place and he simply elected to stare straight ahead.
Walking over towards them at last, Murra took a moment to pull up an old rocking chair before saying, "Okay, so I'm supposed to helping you, yeah?" He pointed a crooked finger at Izaya dubiously. "Because you're soulmates with him." He pointed at Shizuo, who stiffened slightly. "And you don't like it."
"Kids these days!" Isabella exclaimed as she threw something into her pot and it spat out a cloud of smoke at her. "So ungrateful. I tell you Murra, back in my time you were thankful to find out you had a soulmate."
"I was your time!" Murra snapped, impatient. "And you have a soulmate, it's me! Go back to being senile Isabella." Blowing out a breath, he looked at Izaya and Shizuo. "She's got a point though, what are you even doing here? Don't answer that!" he barked when Izaya opened his mouth to respond.
"Murra-san," Izaya said silkily, trying to to be offput by the man. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like it if we could focus on the topic at hand. These past few days have been rather stressful for both of us and-"
"No, it's been stressful for you," Murra countered, cutting Izaya off. "This one's got it all figured out, relatively speaking. He rolls with what life throws at him like a sensible person. You on the other hand, you are just a mess of nerves."
"That's what I said!"
"Isabella-"
"Don't bother Murra, I know!"
Izaya meanwhile, cringed backwards into the sofa, hating Murra's words. He half expected Shizuo to contradict the man but Shizuo just sort of shrugged. Well it was probably true, wasn't it? Shizuo had always been the sort of person to ignore life's problems simply because worrying about them was too much to think about. Now that he was able to see Shizuo's emotions, Izaya knew how true Murra's statement had been.
Shizuo was worried, sure, but it wasn't about the fact they were soulmates. He was worried about Izaya, he was worried about hurting him, he was worried about what Izaya would do if this didn't pan out but he didn't seem to care one way or another about the fact they were soulmates.
What was that about not prodding around in my mind? Shizuo thought, though he didn't seem upset. Instead, Izaya felt a blanket of calm wrap around him. Though he almost wanted to fight it, Izaya couldn't help but be glad Shizuo was there.
I guess I'm just dealing with a lot.
Yeah, we both are. Join the club.
"Okay, this isn't therapy!" Murra said, clapping his hands. "You're here because you want me to do what exactly? Because I can't make you not soulmates, it doesn't work that way."
Nodding, having expected this, Izaya bravely said, "I was wondering if you could negate the symptoms we've been experiencing. We would be most grateful if you could."
Murra huffed and stared at him, as if determining whether he could do what Izaya was asking. As the Witch Doctor thought, there was a soft chorus of meows from behind Izaya's head. Startled, Izaya jerked around to find himself face to face with three wrinkled, cat-shaped creatures. What the hell?
"Those are just the cats," Isabella informed Izaya, never turning away from her brewing pot. "Don't be so nervous, they hardly ever bite."
"Those look like rats," Shizuo said aloud, one of the first things he'd said since they'd gotten there. "They're not fucking cats." One of the demon creatures hissed at him, as if offended. The other two slowly crawled down onto Izaya's shoulders, shocking him into stillness.
"They're hairless," Murra explained offhandedly, getting to his feet and walking over to one of his bursting shelves. "Very hypoallergenic. Keep the lizards in check you know." Mumbling over his books, hardly caring when Izaya yelped in surprise as the third cat jumped on his head, Murra finally pulled out a small bound leather book. "Don't upset them, they're very tetchy."
You look ridiculous, Shizuo thought, snickering.
Well aren't you a charmer Shizu-chan?
The cats meowed loudly.
"So you're dealing with multiple symptoms," Murra began, flipping open the book and examining the pages carefully. "That has got to be the most carelessly performed Dulahan magic I have ever seen and I've had to undo more than one drunken curse."
"Dulahan's can't get drunk Murra," Isabelle reminded the man, sounding exasperated. They don't have heads."
"They're Irish, they're always drunk," Murra said, waving away her correction. "So she goes and messes with your fate, throwing everything into wack and, let me guess, affecting everyone else as well? How typical."
"Can you do something to help?" Izaya asked urgently, struggling not to move too much lest he upset the cats currently digging their claws into his flesh in an attempt to hold on. Curiously, Shizuo reached out and tried to pet one of them before getting hissed again. Looking hurt, Shizuo cautiously withdrew his hand.
"Hmm?" Murra looked up from his book before snapping it shut. "Who knows? This stuff isn't an exact science. In fact, it's guesswork at best." The words didn't do much to reassure Izaya. But then, there wasn't much that could do that at this point. Even Shizuo couldn't calm him down completely.
"Don't listen to him!" Isabella exclaimed, waving a bony hand. "He's so humble but he's the best. There's no one better at manipulating fate than him!" As opposed to making him happy, the compliment only seemed to annoy Murra more.
"You're the one who sees fate!" he snapped, tossing the book behind him carelessly. The cats followed the book's progress with their heads. "Don't you start with me woman-"
"So if he's so good," Izaya said quickly, trying to put the conversation back on track. "Then what can he do to help us?" Turning back towards them, Murra gave him a suspicious look before settling back down in his rocking chair. One of the cats meowed at him and he rolled his eyes as if to say I know, I can't make them go away either.
"Well, isn't that an interesting question." Humming and steepling his fingers, the Witch Doctor looked, not at Izaya, but at Shizuo. "You, boy! Tell me, what is your relationship with this man?"
Distracted from his attempt to befriend the cat on Izaya's head, Shizuo looked over at the man in surprise. Shit shit shit, what the hell am I supposed to say? What does he want me to say? What if I screw it up? What if-
You stupid beast, Izaya chided, risking the wrath of the cats sitting on him by leaning over and nudging Shizuo's shoulder. I'm the one who's supposed to be panicking, not you. Pretending like the jolt of heightened awareness the contact sent through him was just his imagination, Izaya focused on his lap like it was extremely interesting.
Clearing his throat, Shizuo said, "Well, he's a piece of shit, but I guess he's not so bad." It was so honest, Izaya chuckled. The cat on his left shoulder hopped down into his lap and purred happily. Or at least, Izaya assumed it was happy. He didn't speak demon. Acutely aware of the warm glow that came from the connection between his and Shizuo's mind, Izaya struggled not to think about anything as Shizuo continued, "And while I didn't expect for any of this to happen, it could have been a whole lot worse. It could have been someone other than him."
Hating the thing in his stomach that tried to leap up at those words, Izaya struggled to just be bored. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to what Shizuo was saying, was feeling. There wasn't even an attempt at pretense, was there? Shizuo meant every word of it and if he hadn't been able to read the man's mind, he wouldn't have believed a word of it. Because didn't Shizuo hate him? Except he didn't anymore, hell, he'd said he cared.
It certainly sounded like he did right about now. It certainly felt like it.
"Curious," was all Murra had to say on the subject. "You on the other hand," he continued, wagging a finger at Izaya, who was currently wondering if pushing the odd hairless cat off of his lap would be inappropriate. "You are so deadset against this and yet look at you, you're falling apart entirely."
Izaya would have bristled at that, but it was unfortunately true. The cat in his lap fell asleep and absently, the Raven ran his fingers over it. It was like petting leather, albeit very soft leather. "Thank you for pointing out the obvious," Izaya muttered sourly, unwilling to look at Murra.
"But your symptoms are practically an anomaly!" Isabella called, sounding excited. "I mean we have come across everything. Things you just would not believe! And yet you just defy everything, it's impressive."
Izaya frowned. "It's not impressive, that's my life you're talking about."
"Oh shut up you don't know squat about this," Murra muttered, giving him a glare. "I mean do you have any idea how rare this is? Not only the most powerful possible manifestations of these symptoms but multiple compounding signs as well? Unheard of. Even powerful magic doesn't typically do something like that."
"So this Dulahan was more powerful than most," Izaya said, trying to hurry the conversation along. He didn't like how happy about his predicament these people were getting. Though he'd told himself that he'd have the patience of a saint when it came to getting this all sorted out, he was finding that to not actually be the case. "So what? All I'm asking you to do is fix it."
"I already told you it's not that simple," Murra told him, wagging his finger reproachfully. "But let's start this now, otherwise we'll be here all day with how obstinate the two of you are."
Izaya and Shizuo looked at each other and then looked at Murra incredulously. I'm pretty sure he was the one being…
Congratulations Shizu-chan, you earn a cookie for your astute observations.
The cat on Izaya's head meowed before it's paws slipped through raven hair. Suddenly finding himself with a faceful of cat, Izaya spluttered before Shizuo rescued him by deftly catching the hairless monstrosity. It bit the blond man's thumb before discovering that Shizuo didn't care, then it proceeded to purr loudly, as if it was an angel and not a devil in disguise.
Walking forward, Murra looked at the ground and spun around in a circle aimlessly before making a happy cackling sound and stooping to pick something up. It was only once he straightened that Izaya saw what he was holding. "W-how did you?"
"I'm a Witch Doctor, remember?" Murra said, holding up Izaya and Shizuo's string of fate so he could examine it in the hazy golden light streaming through the window. As he held it, the glow of the string seemed to dim considerably. "You put a lot of strain on this thing, didn't you?" he mused, grasping the thing firmly before testing its tensile strength. "What, did one of you fall off a building or something?"
"Bridge Murra, stop being such an idiot!" Isabella corrected, irritable. "I already told you that, you're a damn fool."
"How are you able to see that?" Shizuo asked, sounding confused. The cat in his arms rolled about happily before it managed to sink its claws into the front of his vest. "How did you know Izaya fell off the bridge?"
"I can see past present and future darling," Isabella informed Shizuo reproachfully. "Really, you ought to know by now that if we don't know everything we're surprisingly good at faking it."
These people are crazy…
Mmm, join the club Shizu-chan…
"Surprising it didn't snap," Murra said at last, dropping the string of fate haphazardly. "Those things do have a limit you know. If you two disliked each other as much as you used to claim, it wouldn't have been able to hold up. It's official, you two are the dumbest people to have ever walked through that door and I have dealt with some stupid people."
"Murra the only stupid one in this room is you," Isabella snapped.
"Dammit woman, you're not helping!" Murra groused.
Meanwhile, Izaya sat there in stunned silence. Okay, he got what the man was saying at least partially. Shizuo didn't hate him anymore, hadn't been actively trying to hurt him for several days now. But Izaya, well, he had definitely hated Shizuo when he was about to be yanked out of his apartment window, right?
Though he wanted to just write it off as insanity, the more he thought about it, the more insistent those ideas started to become. Because when had he ever really hated Shizuo? Izaya had kept saying that the easiest thing would be to just revert to their usual mindless hatred but it had never been mindless hatred. Hell, it hadn't even really been a rivalry for him. It had been a game, it had been relaxing. And he'd meant it when he told Shizuo that he'd looked forward to seeing him every day.
So what are we?
God, we're just one big mistake, aren't we?
Izaya nearly jolted out of his skin when Shizuo's knee brushed against this thigh and then stayed there, just lightly making contact with him. We're soulmates, right? Isn't that what all this shit is about? Shizuo's thoughts sounded so bitter and conflicted, Izaya had to reach out and prod at his mind. All he found however was an overwhelming knot of confusion and turmoil that just gave him a headache.
Retreating mentally, Izaya stared up at Shizuo, unable to help the horrible, broken feeling that Shizuo had suddenly started emanating from filling him as well. Stupid Shizu-chan, don't do this to me. What happened to communication, ne? He didn't understand why Shizuo was so upset, didn't get why this had to be so complicated. So he cared about Izaya, so what? It was clearly just a result of this whole problem, right? Come on Shizu-chan, you know that none of this means anything, right? It was just a fluke.
The cat still poised on Izaya's shoulder suddenly lunged out across the divide between Shizuo and Izaya. Keeping it's back claws hooked in Izaya's coat, the cat managed to get a grip on Shizuo's shoulder and then proceeded to dangle suspended between them pathetically, comically angled upwards due to the difference between them. With a grunt, Shizuo shifted closer to Izaya until their shoulders were pressed up against each other.
Completely ignoring the clear emotional conflict going on inside both of the men, the happy hairless cat settled down for a nap, butt on Izaya's shoulder, forequarters on Shizuo's shoulder. Well at least one of us is happy...
"And just look at your telepathy!" Murra exclaimed, startling Izaya and Shizuo out of their microcosm of emotional suffering. "I mean I've seen some pretty freaky stuff but you two, you have something scary." Waving his hand absently, Murra started pacing. "Most people get a sort of radio in their heads. It's unreliable at best. A few emotions here, a few thoughts there. The really really powerful stuff gets through, you know how it is. But here!" He clapped suddenly, startling the cat on Izaya's lap, which meowed plaintively. "You're just getting the unabridged version, aren't you?"
"Oh Murra, you know they aren't listening to you anymore, right?" Isabella yelled over the horrendous belching sound her caldron made. "They're too caught up in their own emotional problems. Let them go back to making the readers all sad inside, you're ruining the moment."
"The only moment being ruined is a moment where you weren't making any noise!" Murra squawked back. "They can sort out their problems later or something, right now, we're trying to make progress!"
"Yes!" Izaya said, seizing on that word. It gave him a distraction from the horrible tension building between him and Shizuo, made all the more apparent by their close contact. Damn cat. "Progress is a very good thing. So now that we've rehashed how screwed over Shizu-chan and I am, let's do something about it."
"Yes, that's what we were going to do!" Murra exclaimed, as if just now remembering. "Because that's productive even though it literally isn't. So what you want me to do is cover up these pesky little symptoms, hmm?"
"Yes," Izaya repeated, nodding fervently, trying to ignore the pang he felt in his heart at the soft sigh Shizuo let out. He could sense the feelings of resignation pricking at his conscious and he hated it because once this was all over, it really would be goodbye. Because he didn't want to have to deal with this, the horrible confusion Shizuo brought.
"I'd tell you to stay away from each other after this is over," Murra started, hobbling over to where his wife was. "But that would be pointless, seeing as you two are already dead set on cutting off all contact for your own equally selfish reasons. It's rather pathetic to be honest."
The knowledge that Shizuo wanted nothing more to do with him after all of this did nothing to still the awful rolling of Izaya's stomach. I should be happy about this!
You're a fucking bastard for thinking like that.
Well that just hurt…
Shut up! You knew this was coming, you know how I feel about this! Izaya shot back, his hands tightening into white knuckled fists. I've never been happy about our arrangement and you were fine with solving it until-
I AM FINE! Shizuo roared mentally, making Izaya flinch horribly. All three cats turned their heads to glare at him. I'm happy that you're going to be alright, got that! I'm not upset about that and I'm sorry that I keep on hurting you. Izaya started to wish Shizuo would just stop thinking but it was like the man was determined to say it now while he still could. You deserve to get away from this, you deserve to be happy. And yeah, I don't want to see you again after this is all over so it doesn't even matter how I feel right? You're going to forget about me and I'm going to forget about you and we're going to just get on with our lives after this is done.
Floored by Shizuo's outpouring of emotions that seemed to have just built up out of nowhere, Izaya struggled to draw breath. What had happened to the man who had been so adamant in saying that he cared? What had happened to the person who had been so quick to save him, so quick to give comfort? Why was Shizuo suddenly so angry?
It's because of me, isn't it...
It was because Shizuo cared so much, and Izaya just… didn't.
Except I do.
You don't get to say that now.
"Okay, enough angst, I'm getting a headache!" Isabella announced, throwing her hands in the air and nearly hitting Murra in the jaw. "You two are going to kill everyone so just shut up for one moment and stop acting like teenagers."
"Well in a moment they'll be fine so then they'll stop complaining now won't they?" Murra groused, reaching a hand down into the caldron. Fishing around for a moment, he withdrew what looked to Izaya like pure white smoke, it's color untouched by the golden hues of the rest of his surroundings.
"You're just going to make it worse I tell you!" Isabella called after him as he trudged back towards Izaya and Shizuo, who had both relapsed into terse, painful silence.
As he pulled and prodded at the white cloud, Murra rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up you old hag, you know full well that this is what I do. I'm not in the business of getting people together. That was your job till you got too decrepit to do it." Shaking his head, he refocused his attention on Shizuo and Izaya.
"So usually I'd just do this on one person but since you're both here, let's give it the opportunity to be twice as effective." Murra cupped the white smoke in his hands and muttered something under his breath that sounded like gibberish. Disturbingly, the smoke started to glow. To Izaya, it looked like the same glow that surrounded Shizuo, bright, hard to look at.
Beautiful.
"Okay, both of you are going to need to close your eyes," Murra informed them, walking up to the couch. "This should do the trick though I can't make any guarantees." He shrugged. "I can however say I have a ninety-nine percent approval rating on Yelp so I mean, your chances are pretty good."
Shizuo leaned away apprehensively from the glowing smoke. "Why the hell is that shit glowing like the fucking Flea?" The return of that biting name made Izaya want to curl up on himself. Pathetic, I'm being pathetic…
"Good!" Isabella called. "I'm glad my skills haven't grown too rusty."
"Just close your eyes!" Murra barked. "Let's see if we can fix this mess."
Quickly, Shizuo shut his eyes, almost like he was eager to get this over with. Eager to be rid of me? Feeling miserable, Izaya shut his eyes and huddled up in the corner of his mind, away from Shizuo's thoughts and emotions. But he could still hear the man's voice, echoing through his brain like it was coming from the end of a bad phone connection.
Damnit, that's not true! You of all people should know that's not true…
Before Izaya could even begin to react to those bitter thoughts, Murra announced, "Okay! This is probably going to make everything get a little hazy." Then something as cold as ice was dragged over Izaya's closed eyelids and everything went black.
A/N: I know, such angst, much sad, wow.
Next chapter will have some Delicious (And when I say delicious I mean more 'meh') Namirona, my second favorite ship. YOU CAN'T STOP ME JUST YOU TRY!
It will also have more angs- I mean whaaaaaaa You heard nothing!
Shhh, Kanra, don't listen to the author's notes, they don't mean anything!